Taxpayers Pay Nearly $7,000,000 in Mueller’s Wild Goose Chase, No End in Sight

Michael Flynn is the latest person to be ensnared by Robert Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, or the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, or Paul Manafort’s dealings with the Ukraine years ago, or where D.B. Cooper is, or whatever.

Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, which a hungry media has gleefully declared is the beginning of the end for the Trump administration. (An odd declaration, since this is roughly the 27th thing that the media has unanimously declared to be the beginning of the end for the Trump administration.)

This is kind of a surprise, since everyone on our staff figured Flynn was guilty as heck and nothing being reported indicates he made contacts with the Russians during the 2016 campaign. (Unless you’re Brian Ross, who managed to earn himself an extra-long Christmas vacation for reporting just that).

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Aside from Flynn, the other people who have been ensnared in Mueller’s exceptionally expensive wild goose chase are:

1) Paul Manafort, for his dealings with a shady pro-Ukrainian organization that began and ended before his short tenure managing the Trump campaign (a position he got not because Trump had any affection for or trust in Manafort but because the GOP establishment wanted some “adult supervision” once it became clear Trump would become the party’s nominee, and Manafort was one of the few establishment figures who would do it)

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2) Manafort’s business partner, Rick Gates, who has absolutely zero to do with Donald J. Trump, and …

Yes, according to The Washington Free Beacon, Mueller’s fishing expedition has spent $7 million of your money on… well, what you see above.

“The expenditures can be divided into two main categories: approximately $3.2 million spent by Mueller, and an additional $3.5 million spent on other Department of Justice components to support the investigation, including investigators from the FBI,” the Free Beacon reported Tuesday.

Keep in mind that Congress has its own investigation into Russian election meddling, which I’m sure isn’t exactly cheap, either.

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The media, of course, will scoff at anyone protesting the price tag of the investigation. These indictments are just the beginning, we’re constantly told. Flynn, Papadopoulos and Manafort are all about to turn on Trump — except there’s no evidence of this in an investigation that’s already seen more leaks than North Korean plumbing.

Seven million dollars may not sound like a lot in the whole scheme of things, especially if you’re a #NeverTrumper determined to nullify last year’s election results via the judicial system. In fact, if you’re Maxine Waters, $7 million must seem like a pittance.

However, consider this: the Rand Corporation estimates that a car theft could be prosecuted for as little as $200 to $400, with murders at the high end going for $22,000 to $44,000.

So, that $7 million could have paid for at least 17,500 motor vehicle theft prosecutions. Or, it could have put 160 murderers behind bars. And keep in mind, that’s just the amount Mueller has spent thus far. If that ends up being half the final bill, I’ll be exceptionally surprised, especially since there’s no end in sight.